Dletown



(No Model.)

W. E. 8v W. SAWYER. Electric Lighting Switch.

Patented Dec. 14,1880.

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R, WASHINGTON. D. C.

N. FEIERS, FHUTO-UT iOGRAPHE UNITED STATES PATENT CEEICE.

WVILLIAM E. SAVVYER AND \VILLIAM SAYVYER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., AS

SIGNORS TO EASTERN ELECTRIC MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF MID- DLETOWN, CONNECTICUT.

ELEGTRIC-LIGHTENG SWlTCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 235360, dated December 14, 1880.

Application filo-d October 6. 1880.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, WILLIAM E. SAWYER and WILLIAM SAWYER, citizens of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Lighting Switches; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such IO as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this 1 specification.

Our invention relates to electric-lighting switches and it consists in a system of contacts and levers actuated by a cam or suitable mechanism operating to light the lamp or lamps, either partly or wholly, by instantly turning on a part or the whole of the current without intermediate graduations.

It further consists in a system of levers actuated by suitable mechanism to turn on part of the current when one of the levers is moved in one direction, and to turn on the whole current to the system when the lever is moved in the opposite direction.

It further consists in a series of levers and 0 contacts so arranged that no current will be directed to the lighting system when the actuating mechanism is at an intermediate point between the levers.

It further consists in details of construction 3 5 that will be hereinafter more fully set forth in the accompanying specification, and pointed out in the drawings, in which- Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 are plan views, partly in section, of the switch mechanism, lamps,

and circuits.

Heretofore it has been considered necessary to turn on the electric current gradually to an incandescent lamp. It has been found, however, that such is not necessarily the case.

Moreover, by turning on the current gradually there is a loss of time that is objectionable.

The object of our invention here presented is to enable us not only to graduate the light (No model.)

as may be desired, but to graduateitinstantly and in a simpler manner than has heretofore been done.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, A A A are levers pivoted as shown. To the lever A is secured a projection, F, that may constitute a part of the lever A Aninsulatingpiece, B, is also fastened to lever A in order to insulate a spiral compressionspring,C, which reacts both upon lever A and A. The upward movement of lever A is limited by a suitable stop pin orpiece, D. The lever A is further provided with a projection,

E, by which contact between levers A and A is made.

G is a cam-shaped fin ger-piece, suitably pivoted, as shown in the several figures. The circuits are represented at I J K K L.

The lever A has attached to it a compression-spring, M, which serves to force the lever downward into contact with an insulated piece, b, on one of theprojections of lever A the end of the lever A playing between the projections to b of said lever A Vida Figs.

1, 2, and 3.)

In the position shown in Fig. 1 the cam G is in contact with lever 13, thus bringinglever A into contact with the projection E of lever A, and at the same time with the end a of lever A and just raised from contact with stop D; nor is the lever A in contact with stop D. Here the circuit, Fig. 1, is from to L lamp and to point; also from to A, E, A, H, I, andJ to also from to A, A G,

K, and J to The result is that the lamp is short-circuited by the last mentioned, (A A 8 5 G K J,) and none or but very little of the current goes through the lamp. Now suppose we turn the cam Gin the direction of the arrow, and the following arrangement ensues All the contacts are in the same position as be- 9 fore. excepting the contact ot'cam G, and that the lever A new rests on stop D. The circuits are now from to L to lamp and to from to A, E, A, H, I, and J to The result is that the current is equally divided, one-half going through thelamp, and a proportionate amount of light is obtained. Now to turn the whole current into the lamp the cam G is moved in the reversed direction, as indicated in Fig. 3. Here cam G is in contact with lever A the insulated pin 1) being in contact with lever A to raise the latter, lever A being in contact with stop-pin D, but not with lever A,and the circuitis as follows: From to L through the lamp and to all of the current going through the lamp.

We mayintroduce a magnet into the circuit, placing the armature on the lever A, as indicated in Fig. 4. Suppose the cam G to be turned as indicated in Figs. 2 and 4, the lever A is in contact with stop-pin D and with ends E and a of levers A and A the cam G being out of contact with lever A and lever A out of contact with stop D. The circuit is as follows: From to A coils of magnet Y L and lamp to and from A, E, A, H, l and J to The result is, as before, that onehalf of the current goes through the lamp, as the contact'point a of lever A prevents the magnet from raising the armature X on lever A. Now, if we move the cam G to the third position, the circuit will be from to lever A, coils of magnet Y L, and lamp to and from to A,E, A,H,L, and Jto but asthe contact-pointer of lever A is now raised so high as to clear lever A, and the magnet Y acts to raise the armature-lever A from E, which cannot follow, owing to the stop-pin D, and thus the latter circuit is broken and all of the current goes through the lamp; but should the lamp-circuit be interrupted by any accident the magnet Y becomes demagnetized and the lever A drops to contact with E, thus maintaining a circuit by way of to A, E, A, H, 1 and J to Thus it will be seen that by simply turning the cam or other lever-actuating device in the proper direction, as indicated and explained, the current flowing to a lamp or lighting system can not only he graduated as desired, but such graduation will be effected instantly, or the whole current can be passed through alamp or lighting system in the same manner without turning on the current gradually, as is now the case.

lVe do not confine ourselves to any particular resistance as respects the resistance in the lamp, as it is obvious that we may employ several levers or other suitable devices in connection with the lamp in case we desire to make more graduations of the light than is deemed necessary or accomplished in the present instance. 4

Having thus described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. An electric-lamp-lighting switch consisting of a system of levers actuated by a cam or other suitable mechanism, whereby the current is caused to pass wholly through the lamp, or partly through the lamp, and a resistance introduced into the circuit by the lever-actuating mechanism, substantially as described.

2. An electric-lamp-lighting switch consisting of a system of levers, one of which is caused to make contact with one or all of the series of levers and with a stop-piece in such manner as to instantly regulate the quantity of current required to flow to the lamp or lighting system, substantially as described.

3. In an electric-lamp-lighting switch, the combination, with a cam and system of levers, as described, one of the levers being provided with an armature, of an electro-magnet in the main circuit, whereby a part or the whole of the current is caused to flow to the lamp, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we affix our signa tures in presence of two witnesses.

WM. E. SAWYER. WM. SAWYER. Witnesses:

I. H. MCDONALD, LEONARD SAWYER. 

